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Friday, March 12–National Program Aids Search

FENWICK ISLAND, Del. – One week after hundreds turned out at a north Ocean City church for a fundraising benefit for Greg Forte, a Selbyville, Del. man who went missing in Fenwick Island on Feb. 9, the case has gone national with the popular America’s Most Wanted program joining the effort to find him.

Gregory R. Forte, 29, of Selbyville, was last seen at a small gathering of about eight people in a condominium on South Carolina Ave. in Fenwick. When he did not return home the following day, family and friends became concerned and found his vehicle, a gray Jeep Cherokee, in a covered parking lot with the door open and the radio playing.

Blizzard conditions in the area hampered the initial search effort, but when the weather cleared, a massive search of the area including all of Fenwick Island, north Ocean City and area north and west of Fenwick began in earnest. Delaware law enforcement officials along with hundreds of Forte’s family members and friends combed the area searching for Forte or any evidence of his whereabouts.

A helicopter search was conducted as public and private search teams went door-to-door in Fenwick and in north Ocean City. A team of search dogs was taken through the Fenwick area, but no new evidence was uncovered. Delaware State Police then scaled back the investigation from a search and rescue operation to a missing person’s investigation.

Last Thursday, as many as 500 friends and family members assembled at the St. Andrew’s Catholic Center in north Ocean City t to raise thousands of dollars to fuel the continued search effort for Forte.

The case has also hit the national stage with a feature on America’s Most Wanted, a television program and website dedicated to finding wanted fugitives and missing persons. Forte’s case was also featured on national cable television networks.

According to the America’s Most Wanted website report on the case, Forte was set to begin work as a substitute teacher at his alma mater Indian River High School at the time he went missing and joined fellow teachers at the informal gathering.

“An incoming storm had cancelled school for the next day, so several teachers gathered at a condo on Fenwick Island for a relaxing evening,” the AMW feature reads. “It was about 11 p.m. when Greg left the gathering and walked to his car. When he didn’t come right back, friends assumed he decided to go home.”